This article offers little in the way of useful advice and seems to be a bit prejudicial toward designers in general. A more useful topic would have been that

This article offers little in the way of useful advice and seems to be a bit prejudicial toward designers in general. A more useful topic would have been that design alone will not guarantee the success of your business. The reality of the matter is that both design and engineering are critical aspects of your business in different ways. Design IS important. Like it or not, the design of your website and your product screen-caps are the first thing any potential customer is going to see. A well designed brand does influence buying decisions, that's a fact. Furthermore, users don't care about how well your code is written. The only contact they have with your code is through your UI. If the experience is not well designed, you're not really doing your job. Everything else being equal, a consumer is always going to choose software that is pleasant to use over software that is merely "functional". That being said, once you entice users to try your product, the engineering better be solid. So there you go, two important skills- both of which add to the value that you're (hopefully) offering to your customers.